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Dave Clouser in his book thought it important to smash the barb of any hook but especially so in hook up condition as this caused less damage to sensitive structure and tissues on roof of fishes mouth. BTW both he and Lefty feel you get more hook ups with barb pinched down. If those were not an issue I like it better for the ease of release. You can keep the fish in the water twist your wrist and it's gone. Also pulls out of human flesh as well as cloth much easier.

Dave Clouser in his book thought it important to smash the barb of any hook but especially so in hook up condition as this caused less damage to sensitive structure and tissues on roof of fishes mouth. BTW both he and Lefty feel you get more hook ups with barb pinched down. If those were not an issue I like it better for the ease of release. You can keep the fish in the water twist your wrist and it's gone. Also pulls out of human flesh as well as cloth much easier.

I will always tie mine hook down. I feel as though, naturally, the hook will have a tendency to roll down, and if I tie the fly hook up I am worried the picture I tried to create will be ruined. So I always tie hook down, unless it's a popper, with a mono hook guard.

Pinching the barb on a hook you plan to tie a point up fly on will also help the fly swim better. Think of the way a planer takes a bait down deeper, or the head of a lipless crank bait, the angle the barb creates catches water and forces the fly downwards, but if the fly is point up then the angle created forces the fly up towards the surface, if you pinch the barb, or use barbless hooks, then the fly will swim more naturally and stay in the area of the water column you want it to be in better.

<p>"Yesterday is history, Tomorrow is a mystery, but Today is a gift, thats why they call it the present." - Anonymous"

Snakes are first cowards, then bluffers, and last of all warriors." - Clifford Pope

"To him, all good things -trout as well as eternal salvation- come by grace, and grace comes by art, and art does not come easy." - Norman Maclean "A River Runs Through It"

Pinching the barb on a hook you plan to tie a point up fly on will also help the fly swim better. Think of the way a planer takes a bait down deeper, or the head of a lipless crank bait, the angle the barb creates catches water and forces the fly downwards, but if the fly is point up then the angle created forces the fly up towards the surface, if you pinch the barb, or use barbless hooks, then the fly will swim more naturally and stay in the area of the water column you want it to be in better.

The surface area of a hook barb which would resist the force of water moving against it is infinitesimal compared to the other design factors of any fly.

You're talking about the rounded edge of a tiny hook barb, not the diving plane of a crankbait (lipless or otherwise).

I'm not going to say it has NO effect, because EVERYTHING has SOME effect, but the effect is so tiny that it is completely overwhelmed by other variables- not the least of which is the mass of the wire composing the hook bend.

If your fly is constructed to offset the mass of the hook bend, the barb is going to have no real-world effect on how it rides.

I am going to go with rich mc on this one. To me common sense tells me to go hook down in the upper water column and hook up in the lower water column. One exception is a articulated frog popper I make with the hook pointed up. This is to better be "moss less" more than anything. I want this fly to crawl across the moss bed like I would a fly crawling on the bottom of the lake. The weight of the hook only, and not the weight of the whole popper rides over the swampy "snot moss" better by being articulated. It works pretty well actually. No,I didn't invent it. And I'm talking "SNOT MOSS"

I must say I've seen some really cool looking parachute mayfly patterns tied hook up though. I don't know how well they ride on the water. Haven't tried so I have no right to say. But they look good. Looks aren't everything. Especially when it comes to flies. Boy don't I know it.